The Memorial
by notanaussie
Summary: Harry takes Teddy to the war memorial.


Theodore Remus Lupin slowly walked toward the marble wall, beside his godfather, Harry. There were many words carved into the white wall, but he didn't understand what they were.

They were inside the Ministry of Magic, he knew that much. He also knew that Harry worked here, along with a lot of other people, but the main hallway was mostly empty now. The sun was setting when he walked in, but it was surely dark outside now. Harry told him that most of them would be at home right now, but he wanted to show Teddy something when the hallways weren't so crowded. Which brings us back to the wall.

The writing started a little higher than where Harry's head was, and it stretched out towards the left and right for about six feet.

"Teddy," Harry whispered, "I know you want to know what happened to your parents, and that's why I brought you here."

Teddy looked up at him.

"Remember when I told you about Voldemort?" Harry asked.

Teddy nodded. "Voldemort was an evil man that tried to kill everybody that didn't have pure wizard blood."

"Yes, he was. He had everyone living in fear for almost 10 years when he disappeared, but he came back 13 years later and terrorized everyone until he was killed 2 years later."

Teddy knew Harry was the one who killed him, but he didn't know how. He hoped Harry would tell him now, but Harry continued with his monologue.

"He made it very hard for anyone to fight against him, but some tried. A lot of them," Harry swallowed, "died. But they all fought for something. They fought to protect their families, their friends, and for this world. The wall in front of us has the names of all of the people who died trying to stop Voldemort. My parents are on here, and so are yours. So are some of my friends and my godfather – people you would've met if they were alive now. Their names are all here on this wall, and so are many others."

Harry steered him to the far left, and pointed to a name in the second column.

"Regulus Arcturus Black. He died before I was born. He was a Death Eater, and went missing about a year after he joined them. Everyone thought he tried to back out, leave the Death Eaters, but it turns out he was trying to stop Voldemort."

Harry pointed to a name directly under that. "Sirius Orion Black. He was my godfather, and Regulus's older brother. He was killed by his cousin, who was also a Death Eater. He and your father were best friends when they went to Hogwarts."

Two rows over – "Colin Creevey. He was underage; he was supposed to go home. But in the final battle at Hogwarts, he wanted to fight; wanted to protect this world he had only found out a few years before and died there.

Now Harry moved skipped a few columns and pointed to a new name. "Albus P. W. B. Dumbledore. You've heard of him. He was a past headmaster of Hogwarts. He brought the down Grindelwald and tried to do the same to Voldemort, but died in the process. He's the greatest wizard of our time."

Now Teddy lost track of how many names they went through, but he remembered some of them, because Harry had mentioned them before. Dobby the House elf (Harry had insisted they put him there, because he did have a hand in destroying Voldemort.), Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody ("The most paranoid, and one of the best Aurors I ever knew."), Harry's own parents, Lily and James Potter, Severus Snape ("The perfect spy to the very end," Harry told him.) and Fred Weasley, one of Uncle Ron's brothers, and one of the funniest people he ever knew.

Then Harry led him back to the center of the wall and showed him two names.

"Remus John Lupin, and Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, your parents," Harry told him. "This happened only a few months after you were born. They died trying to make this world safer for you, and so you wouldn't always have to fight, like they had to." There was a pause before Harry added bitterly, "They didn't want to put your father's name up here because he was a werewolf. We had to make them."

There was a heavy silence after Harry stopped speaking. Teddy stared at his parents' name, and Harry seemed to be skimming the walls. Finally, Teddy spoke up, softly.

"Harry, why did you bring me here? I mean, why just me? Why not James and Albus, too?"

Harry thought about his answer before speaking. "I didn't bring James and Albus because... I thought it wouldn't mean as much to them as it would for you."

There was another short silence before Ted asked if they could leave.

"You sure you want to leave now?" When Teddy nodded, Harry took one last, long look at the wall, and turned to leave with him.

They exited onto the muggle street and stood in the still night air. Teddy looked up into the sky and saw a bright, white full moon hanging right above them. He could've sworn he heard a howl in the background, and as he smiled, his slowly changed into a shocking electric blue.

Harry smiled as he watched Teddy's hair change from it's usual sandy brown color (same as his father's) to a wild color that Tonks would surely be proud of. He glanced at the full moon hanging above them, and walked home with Teddy by his side.


End file.
